Lindsay Gendron on the Morning Swim Show

ON today's edition of the Morning Swim Show, host Tiffany Elias talks to University of Tennessee Junior Lindsay Gendron. Gendron is one of the nation's top-ranked collegiate milers. In the interview, she talks about the changes that took place at Tennessee this year, including the addition of four new coaches under head coach Matt Kredich, and combining the men's and women's programs.

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Tiffany Elias: This is the Morning Swim Show for Friday, November 9th, 2012. I am your host Tiffany Elias. Our guest in the FINIS Monitor is making an impact on the college scene early on this season. Lindsay Gendron, a Junior at the University of Tennessee, is currently one of the top-rate milers in the country joining us from Knoxville to tell us more. Lindsay, welcome to the show.

Lindsay Gendron: Thank you.

Tiffany: So we are few months in now, a couple dual meets down. How is the start of your junior year going?

Lindsay: It is going really well. There is definitely a lot of changes this year with like 4 new coaches and combining with the men and everything but, it has been really great and for the best definitely, and I am really proud of the way our team is heading and the direction that we are going so it is going to be a really great season.

Tiffany: A lot of exciting things. Let's talk about those changes to start off with. First of all let's talk about the coaches. Why don't you give us a rundown of that?

Lindsay: All right, well we have a total of 5 coaches on deck so Matt Kredich is our head coach still and he is awesome and we have Tyler Fenwick, who coached at Mission Viejo and he is mostly in charge of like the distance boys and then we also have Ashley Jahn and Brett Lundgaard and Lance that previously coached at LSU so together they are really great and they are making a huge impact here.

Tiffany: Now who are you swimming under or how does that work? How do the groups break down over there at Tennessee?

Lindsay: We don't really have like set coaches for, like, set groups every single day so we kind of like work with different people everyday and like work with different coaches to get other perspectives on like our stroke and our training so it kind of varies day-to-day.

Tiffany: Very interesting a lot of programs are normally split with groups, but that variety must be nice.

Lindsay: Yeah, definitely.

Tiffany: So this is your first year combining with the boy's team. That has got to make things a little bit more interesting in practice. How was that training been going?

Lindsay: It has been really awesome. It is really fun to race the boys and they have great attitudes and it is just really fun, and combining what they had previously like their visions and everything that they have had in the past and combining it with what we have had has just doubled our intensity and doubled everything.

Tiffany: Do you prefer the coed group over just girls or just boys? Do you prefer training with it mixed?

Lindsay: Yeah, I definitely -- I think there are pros and cons to just like training with females and then there is pros and cons like both of them together, but so far I"ve really enjoyed coed and that is what I have grown up with like my background in club swimming, so it is great to get back to that.

Tiffany: Well your training must be going pretty well. You are off to a great start. Now, I want to talk about the line ups that you have been doing at some of your dual meets because they have been pretty intense. Now just a couple, not too long ago you guys swam against Louisville and you doubled up the mile, the 200 freestyle and then you also swam the 400 IM. So on the top of already being ranked one of the top milers in the country, why are doing such a stacked line about this dual meets and how is this factoring into your training?

Lindsay: I think the reason for just doing like longer events and more events at dual meets and stuff is just for the purpose of training and like getting you doing swims back-to-back and being able to hold that aerobic capacity and that was just going to help me in the long run with like racing down the road.

Tiffany: So it wasn't too tough and making the double of the mile and the 200 free?

Lindsay: Well we had the boys mile in between, so that was helpful, but it wasn't too bad. Many people have done before so I just have to look after them as my role models.

Tiffany: Now last year at NCAA's you swam the mile, the 200 and the 500 free are you already looking ahead? Do you think you will stick with those three events or is there a possible change up?

Lindsay: I mean as off right now I am not a 100 percent certain. I mean I know I like really love mid-distance training and I think that is one of my key strengths so I am not really sure. I am just going to have see how this season goes.

Tiffany: Now being a mile swimmer, what would you say a typical workout is like for you at Tennessee?

Lindsay: Well on Mondays, we do something called progression and basically we start after the beginning of the year with like a pace and like so we did 350s this year, long course so we started with like 4 or 5 and then every Monday we would like increase the number and just like see what our average pace that we can hold, so like sets like that where we can hold it fast pace for like a certain period of time is something that we do a lot here.

Tiffany: All right, well that seems like it would help.

Lindsay: Yeah, for sure.

Tiffany: So would you say -- is there anything standout that you are doing different this year than last year?

Lindsay: As far as training, I think it is pretty -- about the same, but I think just the fact that we have had all the changes within like the teams and our environment and the coaching staff has just made everything really fun and different and just kind of -- I have a new perspective on training and everything, so I think that helps just mixing things up since I am like halfway done with my career so it is great.

Tiffany: Well speaking of which, why don't we touch on that. Will your senior year next year be the end of your swimming career or are there thoughts of continuing?

Lindsay: Well I just want to really take it like one step at a time, so you know like take it one meet at a time and one season at a time and just see where I am after that. As far as right now probably senior year, but you never know.

Tiffany: All right, we are looking forward to seeing Tennessee out there at NCAA's this year. Good luck and hopefully see you there again.

Lindsay: Thank you so much.

Tiffany: All right, thanks Lindsay.

Lindsay: Bye.

Tiffany: That is Lindsay Gendron in the FINIS Monitor that will conclude today's Morning Swim Show. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all the latest news, I am your host Tiffany Elias. Thanks for watching.